Hamilton says he doesn't believe the U.S. Census numbers are accurate, more restrictions could come if COVID numbers continue to rise, and the city could take Gov. Holcomb to court over the 2019 annexation waiver legislation.
In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more during a Facebook Live Zoom event Monday. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: In the past week alone, Hoosiers in hospitals with COVID-19 has jumped nearly 30 percent. 68 persons are hospitalized with the virus in Monroe County, up from 60 Thursday. The numbers are back to February rates. This was always a metric about restrictions, if numbers keep going up, what’s next?
Hamilton: The hospitalizations have gone up from 20 to 60. And the key thing is, if you're vaccinated, you're not going to get sick. Rarely will you have to go to the hospital. The vast majority of people in the hospital and those dying are unvaccinated. So it's kind of a tale of two pandemics, right? The pandemic for people are vaccinated is more like a flu and more like cold and occasionally very bad outcomes, but very rare. And then the pandemic among the unvaccinated is, like we've seen before, it's very dangerous, it can kill you, it can really devastate families.
So, we're gonna have to keep watching. Do we need to go back to gathering size limits? We haven't yet because it does matter that you have a lot of vaccinated people. Do we need to have tighter controls on spacing and in restaurants and those kinds of things and numbers of people who can attend? I hope not. But we are going to let the science and the health drive what needs to be done to keep everybody safe.
READ MORE: State Records More Than 1,500 COVID-19 Hospitalizations For First Time Since Feb. 3
Hren: Census numbers released last week show Bloomington is lost 1,200 people – have you had time to look at the numbers and what are you seeing?
Hamilton: I haven't looked at them in detail, but I will tell you, I don't believe them. It's really not credible that Bloomington went down in population from 2010 to 2020. All the estimates from the Census Bureau in the meantime, in all the years since have shown us growing to 86,000 - adding 6,000 people. All the evidence we have from school enrollments, to taxes to all kinds of different measures indicate growth.
So what it appears to be and we were, of course, really worried about this was this is what happens when you take a census that starts the week after your big university says go home. And I'm very concerned about it. So we are pursuing all the kind of avenues that we can. There's a lot of places around the country that are concerned about this. But it's really important not just for for Democracy, and how we vote and set districts, but also for funding, a lot of funding follows these kind of census numbers. They also reported a bunch of vacant housing, more housing units than people, that's just not the reality on the ground. But we have to do our due diligence and homework to try to figure out what happened and what we can do about it.
READ MORE: Mayor Hamilton: Bloomington Census Numbers Are Not Accurate
Hren: City council public hearing on annexation concluded Wednesday, many people against annexation calling it taxation without representation, services they don’t need, more restrictions – a woman who has a llama, what did you take away from the hearing?
Hamilton: We had something in the order of 70 or 80 commenters. So that's out of about 14,000 people who are affected potentially by the annexation. So that it's that says, obviously, the vast majority of people did not weigh in on that. But we heard people who did not want the annexation for various purposes.
As a second big takeaway, there was a little bit of saying, well yes, annex this, but don't annex that, or there's a line you ought to change here or there. There were a few of those. And those are why it's important to have the hearings. And you know, I actually recommended we drop an area seven on the far north side based on a lot of the feedback, but the vast majority was not dramatically changed.
Most of these areas were long intended for annexation for many, many years. That's why the sewer system has been extended out this far for these places. And then as you know, for a long time the city didn't do annexation, and that's regrettable. We should have and we're kind of trying to play catch up.
Now the council will take up any amendments and then by September we hope and expect there'll be final votes on the ordinances.
Hren: County commissioners read a statement against all areas of annexation calling for voluntary annexation, they say they're also worried about funding county services and replacing an aging jail. What’s your response?
Hamilton: We work closely with the county commissioners, county council members, school corporation, solid waste district, library - all of those players.
My view is annexation makes the city stronger, it makes the county stronger, it makes the region stronger. And it makes our partners stronger. And there are some occasional impacts on on annual finances. We'll be a strong partner with the county in criminal justice reform that's long overdue. But annexation doesn't diminish the capacity of the county to do its work. Most of the county's money comes from city residents. And all of us want a very strong and effective county government.
Just to give one example, the county does have some reduction in revenue. But by our analysis, it looks like their per mile funding for how many streets they manage would go up after annexation rather than down. And we certainly look forward to working with them.
The problem is we have many thousands of acres that were done under the law that Indiana had which was you can extend city services in exchange for a waiver of remonstrance. Meaning basically, we will extend you services now for sewer and water, for example, and you can join the city later. You'll just agree that when it's time to join the city, you'll agree to join the city. That's in a way a voluntary transaction. Because if you don't want the sewers, you don't have to sign that waiver.
Hren: There’s a database on the city website to indicate if a resident has a waiver to remonstrate or petition if annexation is approved, but the city's website doesn’t follow the new 2019 law that invalidates some waivers. Is that correct? Why?
Hamilton: It was actually required by state law and a lot of circumstances to get those agreements. Because the theory is we want you to be in the city. We just may not want it immediately for various reasons. And the vast majority of these areas that we're proposing to annex were intended for annexation. Now the state took this step what we think is actually illegal and unconstitutional. You've heard that from us before and we hate to have to do that. But we were right the last time and we think they've illegally interfered with that agreement by saying, well, you can't enforce that agreement, even though we did our side of the bargain.
Hren: Isn’t that misleading though no matter what you think, to not follow the 2019 law and have those invalidated waivers listed?
Hamilton: I don't think it's missed - I mean, we're just sharing what the waivers are. There is a dispute about the effect of the law, but they're waivers. They're in existence, and we're just reporting what they are. I do think it'll ultimately probably take a court to unpack this. And regrettably, the state legislature has again taken very aggressive steps, in our view, illegal but certainly aggressive to try to stop a city annexation going forward.
And I have to say it's frustrating the feel of this kind of anti-urban, anti-municipality tenor up in the Statehouse, but we're going to continue to try to do the right thing for the city.
READ MORE: WFIU/WTIU News Bloomington Annexation Coverage
Hren: Will the city take the Indiana legislature and Gov. Holcomb back to court if annexation comes down to those waivers you think are unconstitutional?
Hamilton: If it comes to litigation, it's not clear that it would, but if it turns out to be that the status of a certain amount of waivers is a pivotal factor, it will probably end up in court somehow. I don't know exactly how, but we hope it won't come to that and that people understand this was a fair square deal.
For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.
